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On Friday, August 6 at 7:30 pm Michael D’Antonio will be at Noroton Yacht Club, Baywater Drive, Darien, to speak about his new book, “A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Lipton’s Extraordinary Life and His Quest for The America’s Cup”. This event is arranged by Barrett Bookstore and hosted by the Noroton Yacht Club. Seating is limited so please call Barrett Bookstore (203-655-2712) for a reservation before Thurday, August 5.
Today Lipton means tea. However, in his time Sir Thomas Lipton was known for much more. Raised in desperate poverty in Glasgow, Scotland, a slum that Friedrich Engels called the worst industrial neighborhood in the world, seventeen-year-old Tommy Lipton boarded a boat bound for America to seek his fortune. He arrived in New York in 1864, along with thousands of other penniless, anonymous immigrants, but his natural charm and quick wits set him apart. Lipton immersed himself in the life of the streets, learning the ways of American business and after five years returned to Glasgow to put into practice what he had observed. He opened Lipton’s Market and it became an overnight success. Quickly expanding, he created the first chain of grocery stores and became wealthy before the age of thirty. Lipton's great business acumen makes for a compelling story of innovation and achievement. But equally engaging is the creation of his larger than life persona. A genius at self promotion, he managed to avoid the pitfalls of celebrity status and with great good humor maintained tremendous popularity among the ordinary people as well as the rich and famous.
In 1899, the recently knighted Sir Thomas Lipton made his first bid for the most prestigious sailing competition, the America’s Cup. “This is something that today escapes most of us,” says Mr. D’Antonio in a recent interview on NPR, “but in 1899, it wasn’t the World Series that people followed. People waited for these great yachting competitions because they were not only sporting events, but contests of technology. It was literally America and America’s science, America’s engineering, America’s industry versus Great Britain”. Between 1899 and 1930, he challenged the American holders of the America’s Cup through the Royal Ulster Yacht Club five times with his yachts called Shamrock-Shamrock V and lost each attempt. His well publicized efforts earned him a specially designed cup for "the best of all losers" as well as the affection of the American public whose love of the charismatic underdog is deep in the national mythology. “And I think it was because he represented every immigrant who ever came to America, every poor boy who wanted to make it”, continues Mr. D’Antonio. “Uneducated, he came to America, learned how to become someone else, went back to Great Britain and did it with such style, had such grace and humor that the Americans loved him”. He was the antithesis of the robber barons who were so resented in his time, and he used his great wealth for the benefit of many. In the end, according to the author, “Lipton loved being Lipton, and his enthusiasm – he called himself The Great Lipton – was infectious.” D’Antonio’s biography brings to vivid life this remarkable figure. Michael D’Antonio is the author of many acclaimed books. His work has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Discover, Sports Illustrated and other publications. Among his many awards is the Pulitzer Prize, which he shared with a team of reporters for Newsday.
